I know, I know. I have ongoing books. I like to take writing slowly, and I can go days with no inspiration, unfortunately.
Also for that person who was so upset that I just write about Jay constantly, (meanwhile the first thing in my bio is that my page is a Jay centred hell hole) have bruiseshipping in Cole's pov.
The schooling system and weather is based off where I live, South Africa.
It was a new year and a new grade for Cole Brookstone. Thank God that it was his last year of high school. It was exciting and scary at the same time. This chapter, or rather the prologue of his story, is coming to an end, and a new chapter was about to start. He has spent years in this place, building up friendships which will most likely vanish the moment he stepped out of the school for the last time, as if they never existed. It was his last year in high school and he still had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.
He felt his heart flutter in his ribcage as he stared at the large building looming over him. It was only 7 am, leaving him 35 minutes to find his friends and just catch up after the 6-week holiday.
January was his least favourite month of the year. Firstly, it was summer and going through the day when it was 40 degrees Celsius outside was an absolute nightmare. Secondly, it was the beginning of the new school year, which was the start of more and harder school work and unnecessary hormone filled drama.
Cole gripped the strap of his heavy bag tightly in his already sweaty palm and made his way into Ninjago High. The hallways were only inhabited by a few learners who wandered around like ghosts. It was quite early, and most people only arrived at quarter past, leaving the early birds to wander around aimlessly until their clique arrived.
His first stop was the all mighty Art Centrum that was basically Cole's second home. It had to be his favourite area of the school. Ninjago High was a humongous school, with classes ranging from accounting to jewellery design to even engendering.
The Art Centrum was a building on the east side of the school grounds full of drama, music, sculpting and painting classes. Cole would rather live in the painting class than his own house. There were cupboards full of canvases available to those who seek them, as well as tins of paint available in all the colours of the spectrum. If that wasn't heaven, Cole didn't know what was.
The unlocked door creaked open and after placing his bag on the table, he unzipped his folder and took out his hard work. He worked over the holiday on a painting which he was very proud of. He spent weeks painting a sunrise. It might sound quite stupid and boring, but people underestimated sunrises and how different each of them were. The canvas was splashed with blues, pinks and purples. The clouds were rimmed with gold as the sun came out for the day, greeting the sky with morning kisses.
He carefully placed his canvas among the other pieces that lined the wall, shut the door behind him and left to see if his friends were already at school. As he shut the door behind him, however, he heard familiar voices loudly chatting from one of the music rooms.
He immediately frowned. He was very certain that Kai and Zane didn't know how to play the piano. He curiously dropped his bag down and walked to the room and entered.
He creaked the door open and smiled as he saw his friends, Kai and Zane standing in a circle around an ebony grand piano. They were sitting around someone who just finished playing. None of his friends knew how to manipulate the black and white keys under their fingertips. Cole was very curious to see who it was.
Kai whipped his head around and smiled when he heard the taller teen enter the room.
"Cole!" The messy-haired teen yelled before grabbing him into a hug.
"Morning, guys!" He said before giving each of his friends a hug. It felt great to be united with his friends after weeks of being apart. Sure, they met up in the holidays but seeing them every day seemed to be the only good thing that could come out of school.
He then moved his direction to the person who caught his friends' attention. His back was turned to him, seeming not notice that he came into the room. He had a mop of chocolate curls and he was quite short. He was flipping through a flip file filled with piano sheets.
"Hi," He said, wanting to introduce himself, but he didn't seem to hear him. Feeling a bit uncomfortable in the situation, he cleared his throat and tried to get his attention again, to no avail.
"Ah, Cole. This is Jay. He's deaf and cannot hear a thing," Zane intervened as Cole seemed to get upset by the boy's attitude.
Deaf? Cole was a bit surprised. What was a deaf kid doing in a school that wasn't, well, for deaf kids?
"Oh," He sighed and scratched the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed.
Zane went and waved his hand in front of Jay's face to get his attention. It was clear that he didn't want to give him a fright by touching him. Jay looked up as Zane signed him. He moved his hands in different ways and changed the expression on his face, to which Jay responded in the same way. It was interesting to watch, even if it lasted a few seconds.
To think that there was a whole way of communication that didn't consist out sounds, but rather the movement of the hands and expressions on their faces.
Unfortunately, Cole had no knowledge of Ninjagian Sign Language. Jay then looked his way and Cole inhaled a deep breath.
He had the most gorgeous eyes he has ever seen. One blue and one brown. Freckles dusted his cheeks and the bride of his nose. He had an orange scarf wrapped around his neck and chin.
"Hi," He softly said, "I'm Jay. Nice to meet you." He softly said, holding out a hand.
Cole was slightly taken back that he spoke. Were deaf people even able to speak? Or was he just so unfamiliar with deaf people that he was disconnected from something that seemed obvious to everyone else?
Cole firmly grabbed his hand and shook it. "He can speak?" He asked himself as Jay turned around to face the shiny instrument in front of him.
"You'd actually be surprised at how good of a lip reader this kid is," Kai said and patted the smaller teen on the shoulder. Jay jumped a bit, as he obviously got a fright. He smiled at Kai and started playing the piano again.
This year might just be more eventful than the previous.